


One Thousand Mornings

by LupitaBadu



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-10-15 16:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17532284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LupitaBadu/pseuds/LupitaBadu





	One Thousand Mornings

When her mother died she was barely old enough to keep a few memories of her. Her most favorite memory was a simple one, a quiet dawn when they had both woken early and watched the sun rise above the mountains in the distance. She couldn’t recall now what town they had been in or what mission her mother had been on for the Akatsuki which might have taken them there, but the why of it was less important. 

More important was the way the first rays of light had made a halo around her mother’s head and lit up her amber eyes like jewels, her soft and patient smile and the way it smoothed the ever-deepening worry lines around her mouth. 

“I named you Chiasa because I want to spent one thousand mornings with you,” she had said. 

Now Chiasa would spend one thousand mornings and more alone with no mother to guide her steps in this world. Already she had seen so many suns climbing above the horizon and none of them had brought a beautiful woman with hair of purple walking gracefully up the path as they used to. Truthfully, Chiasa had stopped waiting a long time ago. 

For more than a few years she had carried her anger inside, tight and sharp, and she had sworn to do whatever it took to have her revenge. That she had no idea who it was that had taken her mother’s life was only a small hurdle, in her opinion. Surely a little investigating would bring her any answers she needed.

It took until Chiasa turned 18 years old, until she had found more than one questionable master to teach her their arts, until she was a shinobi to be feared, for the anger to finally release. 

This was not the life her mother had wanted for her. In all of the scattered memories she held so dear, not once could she ever remember her mother encouraging her daughter to follow in her footsteps. Mornings were quiet and soft, paper flowers in her breakfast. Afternoons were bright, running through whatever new town they had traveled to. Evenings were gentle, learning her kanji and her numbers from the papers that her mother made as if from nothing.

If Konan had meant for her daughter to be a shinobi, she would have passed down the jutsu that came as naturally to her as breathing. 

“A mother never hopes that her children will have her life,” she could remember her saying. “A mother hopes that her children will have better.”

Remembering those words was like a gentle chastising nudge from the afterlife after so many years and Chiasa felt properly shamed for having allowed her emotions to nearly consume her like that. She recalled the way her mother spoke of peace and the longing in her voice, the way she had reminisced about an old teacher who once gave her hope for the future. 

Though she did not have many clues to follow, Chiasa found that just a name was enough to take her farther than she had ever imagined. Her mother’s old teacher was more famous than she had guessed and at 19 years old, after a long journey, she found herself standing before a memorial in a village she had heard of many times yet never thought she would ever see for herself.

“How did he die?” she asked. The man who had led her here scratched at his cheek, searching for words. 

“A hero,” he said eventually. “He died for information that would save many other lives, killed by a student he once trusted.” 

Chiasa nodded, her eyes sadly tracing the kanji for the name of the great sage Jiraiya. Her shoulders slumped as though a great weight had fallen upon them suddenly. 

“He was last connection I knew of to my mother.”

“Was your mother a citizen of Konoha?”

“No. She lived and died as a shinobi of Ame. But Jiraiya-sama was once her teacher and I’d hoped…well. I only wanted to speak to someone else who knew her, you know?”

Her companion nodded solemnly. “I understand. What was her name?”

“Konan. Her name was Konan and to me she was more beautiful than the night sky full of stars. She was an amazing mother.”

“Ah! Konan! Did she have purple hair?”

Chiasa spun to face the man with her. “Did you know her?” she demanded. He rubbed the back of his neck a little sheepishly. 

“Mm. I definitely met her. It wasn’t that long before her body was found along with those of her two teammates, Nagato and Yahiko. She was really nice to me and stuff, ‘ttebayo!” 

When the weight lifted from her shoulders Chiasa had to concentrate on not swaying back and forth. She felt as though a slight wind might knock her over and leave her breathless, such was the relief she felt. It took a few moments before her lungs remembered how to breathe properly.

She had found it. The connection to her mother she had traveled all this way for, he was standing right here at her side in a white cloak hemmed in red flames. The Hokage of Konoha himself. Chiasa clasped her hands and bowed as deeply as she could with great respect, the way her mother had taught her.

“Please. Please will you tell me about her? Any memory is precious.” 

“You don’t have to bow, ha ha! Of course I will.” Uzumaki Naruto offered her both a smile and his hand. “Konoha welcomes you for as long as you wish to stay.” 

Chiasa smiled, barely able to speak around the tightness choking her chest. She was incredibly grateful that he hadn’t called it a home; her home had been lost along with her mother. But she thought that Konoha would make a very nice place to stay while she researched ways to preserve her mother’s truest legacy.

Peace.


End file.
